This might not seem like the most exciting photo I've ever posted, but it interests me for two reasons. I took it at Pompeii last summer, when much of the site was closed, which might explain why I was looking this closely at what was open. First off, the shift in color from red on top to yellow at the bottom- it's caused by the heat cooking the yellow pigment into a red (same as how yellow Raw Sienna is turned to red Burnt Sienna). What's curious is that the yellow is on the bottom part- this is because the room was partly filled with ash, which insulated the paint, before an influx of extremely hot gases burned the upper part.
The second aspect that interests me here is the perfectly straight lines. Anyone who has done line work will tell you it's not easy to make lines like these- even, spaced perfectly, and dead straight (they didn't have masking tape back then!) Especially when the medium is (thought to have been) a waxy encaustic paint on a vertical plaster surface. I would sure like to know more about how this was done! Seen it on ceilings too, which to me seems close to impossible.
The second aspect that interests me here is the perfectly straight lines. Anyone who has done line work will tell you it's not easy to make lines like these- even, spaced perfectly, and dead straight (they didn't have masking tape back then!) Especially when the medium is (thought to have been) a waxy encaustic paint on a vertical plaster surface. I would sure like to know more about how this was done! Seen it on ceilings too, which to me seems close to impossible.
Having taped lines recently, I can certainly appreciate the mystery of these incredibly straight and even lines. I wonder whether these artists had brushes that corresponded to modern pin-striping tools?
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